October Blackcap

This weekend's ringing took place in the private site in Sheffield where 18 birds of 11 species were caught. Birds caught today were: House and Tree Sparrow, Blackcap, Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Robin.

Amongst the birds was the juvenile Blackcap with a weight of just over 20g. He was also covered in what looked like Elderberry juice, so had presumably been feeding up to begin/continue with his migration down to Southern Europe or North Africa. Blackcaps from Central Europe do overwinter in Britain though so, who knows, perhaps he'll stay here and we'll see him again over the coming months.

I extracted another new species today, Robin, which is one of the longest legged small birds I've ever seen. I had 2 birds today, 1 new and 1 retrap. Other birds processed by me were (new/retrap): Dunnock 0/1, Tree Sparrow 1/0, Goldfinch 1/0 and Chaffinch 1/0.

Other birds/wildlife seen this morning were a Kestrel, a couple of Mistle Thrushes, a few over-flying Skylarks, Blackbirds, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and a single Comma and Red Admiral butterfly.